Pats Pulpit
The New England Patriots will make their return to prime time this week, hosting the New York Giants at Gillette Stadium in what will be the their first Monday Night Football game since the 2022 season. The team of head coach Mike Vrabel is entering the contest off an NFL-best nine straight wins, trying to improve to 11-2 on the year and stay ahead of its competitors in the AFC.
In order to do so, however, they will have to beat a Giants team that, despite only winning two games so far, has plenty of talent on both sides of the ball. Let’s take a closer look.
Over the weekend, the Giants become the first team in the NFL officially eliminated from playoff contention. Dropping to 2-10 because of an overtime loss to the Detroit Lions, it is easy to dismiss them as one of the worst teams in football, but as a look at their numbers shows, the situation is more complex than that — even though that did not prevent them from firing head coach Brian Daboll earlier this month.
Record: 2-10 (4th NFC West)
Scoring differential: -70 (27th)
Turnover differential: -6 (t-26th)
Offense: 22.0 points/game (22nd), 348.5 yards/game (11th), 13 giveaways (t-13th), 0.051 EPA/play (12th), 0.122 EPA/dropback (12th), -0.053 EPA/run (18th)
Defense: 27.8 points/game (30th), 385.0 yards/game (30th), 7 takeaways (30th), 0.149 EPA/play (31st), 0.124 EPA/dropback (23rd), 0.193 EPA/run (32nd)
The Giants’ season so far is a tale of two units. The offense, despite starting three different quarterbacks and missing their No. 1 running back and wide receiver, has performed at a surprisingly solid level so far: while New York is still only ranked 22nd in points per game, the group is above average in multiple categories — not exactly what you would expect from a two-win team 12 seasons in.
The defense, however, is a different story (which led to coordinator Shane Bowen recently following Daboll on the chopping block). The unit has been abysmal against the run so far, ranking worst in the NFL in yards, yards per attempt, and EPA per carry. The pass defense has performed slightly better, but still not at a level that would allow New York to take advantage of an at-times good offense.
The Giants have been competitive this year, but as a look at their games so far shows it has not translated to a lot of winning.
Week 1: 21-6 loss at Washington Commanders (0-1)
Week 2: 40-37 (OT) loss at Dallas Cowboys (0-2)
Week 3: 22-9 loss vs. Kansas City Chiefs (0-3)
Week 4: 21-18 win vs. Los Angeles Chargers (1-3)
Week 5: 26-14 loss at New Orleans Saints (1-4)
Week 6: 34-17 win vs. Philadelphia Eagles (2-4)
Week 7: 33-32 loss at Denver Broncos (2-5)
Week 8: 38-20 loss at Philadelphia Eagles (2-6)
Week 9: 34-24 loss vs. San Francisco 49ers (2-7)
Week 10: 24-20 loss at Chicago Bears (2-8)
Week 11: 27-20 loss vs. Green Bay...
